Food Network Magazine - (11)November 2019

refuge for a lot of my friends and family,” Guy

says. It’s hard to imagine how close he came to

losing it all a few years ago as wildfires ravaged

Northern California.

Guy and Lori were on a flight to Croatia when

he started getting messages from his dad that

fires were spreading near the ranch. “By the

time we land for our layover, my 73-year-old

dad is messaging me that he’s gonna fight the

fire!” Guy says. A quick-thinking neighbor with

a bulldozer cleared a path to prevent the blaze

from spreading, but for three days Guy’s dad, the

property’s caretaker and six of Guy’s best friends

stayed on-site to protect the land, taking turns

patrolling. “It was as gnarly as gnarly gets,” Guy

says with disbelief.

These days, life on the ranch is much more

peaceful—although not completely low-key. As the

team packs up the final pieces from the shoot, Guy

pauses at a folding table for a sandwich and a cup

of soup, but he sits for only a few minutes before

he’s up again, ready to show off the rest of the

property—and feed some more goats. “They go

nuts for that hay and will follow me anywhere

if they see it,” he says. As he cruises around in

the ATV, Guy makes sure to drive slowly, taking

his time to appreciate what he has out here.

“My whole energy about the ranch is that when

you get here, you can’t be in that big of a hurry,”

he explains. “I always say to people, ‘Where else

do you have to go? Soak it in.’ ”

You have to work hard to get

to this deck—it was built

around existing boulders and it’s

reachable only via a rocky dirt

road. Once you arrive, there

are incredible views of Mount

St. Helena and Clear Lake.

As the inventor of

Donkey Sauce (a garlic aïoli),

Guy knew the ranch wouldn’t

be complete without a couple

of donkeys. He keeps Taquito

(below) and Burrito as pets.

NOVEMBER 2019 ●FOOD NETWORK MAGAZINE 43